Feedback Friday
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions
Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: After using the 1-2-3 indigo dye vat, do you need to mordant the now blue skein before you overdye with yellow to get green or madder to get purple? If you are overdyeing with a dye that does not require a mordant (like walnut hulls, for example), then you do not need to mordant after indigo dipping. … Read more
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions
Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: My indigo stock solution isn’t changing color? What should I do? If you have an indigo flower and metallic scum and you have done all the above steps and it’s still stubbornly dark, opaque blue, add 1 spoonful of calcium hydroxide, and 1 spoonful of fructose or henna, stir carefully and watch for reduction. Gently heating the … Read more
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions
Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: Do you have any advice on how to get a consistent grey? I am answering this in two parts. One, how to get a consistent, non-blotchy color and two, how to get the same color in multiple dye baths. Here’s the answer to the first question. Most gray recipes are a combination of a tannin dye with … Read more
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions
Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: I’ve used henna in a 1-2-3 vat and love it but would like to get darker colors without redipping if possible. Is your recipe for the iron and henna online? We get very dark colors from henna but it is always through multiple dips. Do note that henna vats are stronger after several days of “ripening.” Indigo … Read more
FEEDBACK FRIDAY: This Week in Natural Dye Questions
Image: Honest Alchemy Each week, we are emailed with questions from our natural dye community asking simple and complex questions that we thought might be worth sharing. Here are a handful from this week answered by natural dyer in chief, Kathy Hattori, Founder of Botanical Colors: I am dyeing logwood on wool and only getting a brown color-what is happening? The rich purple color from logwood can be affected by cream of tartar. If you normally mordant with cream of tartar, try omitting it in the mordant process. You may also enhance logwood by adding a pinch (less than 1/8th … Read more